All Hearts Come Home For Christmas
by FromMyFingertips
Summary: Mr. Maddens is single at Christmas again and has gone back to his old ways of loathing the holiday. It seems his days of putting on the Nativity are over. That is until he meets the new teacher Miss Finley and offers to help her put on the best play ever!


I sat in my classroom at St. Bernadette's grading papers and listening to the sound of children playing outside my window. Today was my assistant Mr. Poppy's turn to watch the kids at recess which I had no problem with considering this had been quite a devastating week for me. As if Jennifer leaving me over the summer wasn't bad enough on Saturday morning my dog Cracker suddenly passed away leaving me completely alone. I don't know why it seemed these things always happened around the holiday's maybe I was just unlucky in life. I sighed and began to read the next paper which was part of their creative writing time. I had asked them to write 5 sentences about something they loved and for the most part they had all been quite normal. That is until I got to Mitchell's paper.

"I love Charlie Teh Unicron." (2 points for spelling).

" He and his friends make me laugh." That's good laughing is always good.

"They burn down forests." Well that isn't very nice.

"They ask for money from Leo." Who?

"They like to eat grandslamwiches at Denny's with the Banana King." OK what the hell is a grandslamwich and who is the Banana King!

I groaned and pulled my glasses off setting them down on the table before pinching the bridge of my nose. Mitchell was new this year having moved all the way from Dublin. I worried about him I really did and his paper only made my worry seem more legitimate. I grabbed a pen and began writing down notes on his paper hoping his parents would see them.

"Oh Mr. Maddens!"

I shot my eyes up towards Mr. Poppy who spread his arms out and whizzed about the classroom making those annoying airplane noises he always did.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching the children?"

"Yes, but I have to talk to you."

"You can't leave them outside alone!"

"I know, but I really need to talk to you!"

"I'M SURE IT CAN WAIT! NOW GET BACK OUTSIDE!"

"Mrs. Hammond is watching them."

"Why didn't you tell me that part first?"

"You didn't ask." Desmond Poppy had to be one of the most ignorant and irresponsible people I had ever met and every time he was in my presence I seemed to get a splitting headache. "What is it Desmond?"

"Why aren't you coming to the assembly this afternoon?"

"Because I hate Christmas and there's no way I'm doing the Nativity play this year."

"Why the sudden change? Just last year all you could talk about was doing the play!"

"THAT WAS BEFORE MY GIRLFRIEND DUMPED ME AND MY DOG DIED! NOW WILL YOU PLEASE TEND TO THE CHILDREN!"

"Will you at least just come to the assembly?"

"Fine." I grumbled just to keep him off my back. There was a sudden loud bang at the window and we looked up just in time to see Mitchell with his face and mouth squished against the window. "Something is not right with that one."

* * *

><p>We piled into the gymnasium for our typical Nativity play announcement which happened every year at the same time. I made sure to keep the kids quiet as they sat down in an orderly fashion and I took my seat. I crossed my legs and took note of the chair in front of me. That was where Mrs. Brent usually sat, but it was unusually empty today. The doors opened and in walked the new principle Mr. Jenkins who was always overly happy about Christmas.<p>

"GOOD MORNING BOYS AND GIRLS!"

"Good morning Mr. Jenkins." They replied back.

"Now as you may have noticed Mrs. Brent is absent from our assembly this morning. I had hoped she would take on the task of putting on our Nativity play this year after all she did such a wonderful job helping out Mr. Maddens last year. Well…um…unfortunately Mrs. Brent shan't be returning. She has some family business to tend to and I'm sure you will all agree that she will be dearly missed." I bowed my head knowing what could possibly come next and simply hoping it wouldn't. "Your new teacher is running a bit late…"

The doors flew open drawing everyone's attention towards them. I stared intently waiting to see what kind of person would walk through the door. Part of me hoped it would be another male teacher after all there weren't many of us. I watched as a rather petitie thing woman walked in through the door her long brown hair made into a messy braid. She looked as if she had just graduated from university in fact I was sure of it. She made her way inside closing the door loudly behind her before turning around and looking at us with her bright green eyes.

"Sorry. My car broke down and I had to walk."

"Quite alright." Mr. Jenkins replied a little taken aback by her disheveled appearance. "Everyone this is your new teacher."

She made her way to the chair in front of me and took a seat. I felt someone nudge me and turned to look up at Mr. Poppy who was standing right next to me.

"Close your mouth Mr. Maddens."

I quickly did as he said feeling slightly embarrassed by the fact that I had been gawking at a woman I didn't even know.

"This is Mrs. Kate Finley."

Of course she was married how could she not be?

"Right now…" Mr. Jenkins watched as Mrs. Finley slowly raised her hand. "Mrs. Finley you don't need to raise your hand. You're out of school now."

"Sorry I just thought I should correct you. It's Miss Finley. I'm not married."

Mr. Poppy nudged me again and I slapped him away.

"Of course my apologies. Miss Finley was kind of enough to take over Mrs. Brent's place on such short notice and has agreed to put on this year's Nativity play! However, being that she is new I would much appreciate a volunteer to help her…"

For some reason my hand immediately shot up almost as if it had become an involuntary motion. "I'll help!"

In that moment I felt everyone's eyes staring at me. Sure I had made it known that I absolutely hated Christmas and the last thing I wanted to do was put on the play, but I felt sorry for the girl.

"Are you sure Mr. Maddens?"

I looked at Mr. Jenkins and nodded. "I'm just helping it's not like I'll be doing everything myself."

"Right well thank you Mr. Maddens."

The assembly went on as planned at least I think it did I fell asleep while the kids were singing their rendition of "Deck the Halls." Not surprising that song always bored me to death. When it was all over I yawned loudly and collected my students walking them out of the gym and down the hall to their classroom.

"Mr. Maddens?" The sound of her voice caused my heart to jump and I quickly turned around a smile plastered across my face.

"Miss Finley. Is there something I can do for you?"

I then felt her hand on my arm and all the nerves in my body went off at once. "I just wanted to say thank you. I really appreciate it."

"Oh it's no problem at all."

"Right well. Have a good day." I watched as she turned to leave and I found myself staring at her once again my mouth dropping lower with each passing second.

I felt a tug on my sleeve and a tiny voice called out to me. "Mr. Maddens!"

It broke me from my trance and I glanced down at little Gretchen who seemed to be quite distressed. "What's the matter?"

She sighed. "Mr. Poppy's glued his fingers together again."

I rolled my eyes. "That's the third time today."

"Will you help him?"

"Do I have to?"

"Mr. Maddens!" She said before giggling to herself.

I smiled and patted her on the head. "I'll be down in a minute." I said sending her on her way. Most of the time I simply let Mr. Poppy spend the rest of the day unable to use his pointer and middle fingers, but after meeting Miss Finley I found myself in an unusually good mood and more than willing to help Mr. Poppy unglue himself.


End file.
